fear of cross handstand on beam!

[mustlovejumping]

I'm almost 20 and just started an adult gym class in June. At first I was really good with beam and was able to get easy jumps and leaps and even a full turn (because I was a dancer for 14 years). I had my cross hanstand on medium beam and was totally fine with it. Then in August last year I had a really bad ankle injury on the tumble track (basically two really bad sprains at once because i rolled it out and rolled on top of it. It was swollen for over a month and I still don't have all the range of motion back, although my ankle is at about 85% right now. Anyway, just a little background in case it's relevant.

So since beam is really hard with an untrustworthy ankle, I've just been doing a few things on low beam, and a few months ago I was working hanstands on low beam and I kicked up too hard and started to go over the other way. I do know how to get out of that by turning sideways, but I didn't do that because I didn't want to land on my ankle weird and reinjure it. So instead I somehow ended up landed and hitting the right side of my back on the beam, and that whole side was numb for a few days. Ever since then I've had a huge fear of handstands on beam because I'm always afraid I'll fall like that again, even though my ankle is fine now to bail out of a bad handstand the way I did before I got hurt.

Has anyone had a similar fear or a have any tips to help? Beam in general terrifies me now partially because I don't always trust my ankle and partially because of that fall :[

 

[henrik541]

Okay, so basically I'm a guy, I never did beam and never was injuried that bad in my whole life, but I think i have an advice for you.
Try doing some cross handstands on the low beam, planning to fall on purpose, just to get used to the idea of falling in that ankle. If you say you're ankle is fine, it's obviously a psychological fear and you'll get over it quickly, I hope.
If this doesn't work, try doing waht you always do when you fall but change the feet in the middle, i.e. if you hurt your right ankle, try landing first with the left foot and then bring slowly the right one. Hope this helps,

 

[mustlovejumping]

Thanks! I know it really is psychological now so that's a good idea to try some falling on purpose. I could do that on the foam beam just so it wouldn't matter if I didn't land properly.

 

[iBleedChalk]

I used to be afraid of my cross handstand too. One of the things that helped me over come my fear was to go fast vertical, twist and fall out. Obviously, master it on a lower beam. But holding it vertical on the high beam was always my biggest fear and when I got used to going past vertical it made me more comfortable when I did it correctly.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Stay tight! Have a coach stand there for a few. You'll be great